European Exploration
Who really discovered America?
Explorer
Country of Origin
Date
Discovery
Lief Ericson & the Vikings Norway
1001
Newfoundland
Christopher Columbus
Spain
1492
San Salvador and West Indies
John Cabot
England
1497
Greenland, and Newfoundland
Amerigo Vespucci
Spain
Vasco de Balboa
Spain
Ferdinand Magellan
Spain
Juan Ponce de Leon
Spain
Hernando Cortez
Spain
Jacques Cartier
France
1535
The St. Lawrence River
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
Spain
1542
California
Sir Francis Drake
England
Samuel de Champlain
France
Henry Hudson
The Netherlands 1609
1497 to 1502 South America and West Indies
1513
The Pacific Ocean
1509 to 1522 First to sail around the World
1513
Florida
1519 to 1521 Mexico
1577 to 1580 Explorations around the World
1603
The Great Lakes and Quebec
Hudson Bay
Columbus’s fleet left Spain on August 3, 1492 &
reached land on October 12, 1492.
In a little over two
months,
Columbus’s fleet –
Nina, Pinta &
Santa Maria
reached the island
of San Salvador.
By dawn, he, along
with his men went
ashore & were
greeted by the
natives. He
ignorantly called
them “Los Indios”
or The Indians. A
term which has
stayed with them
to this day.
Everyone recognizes that many people were in America long before
Columbus. The Asiatic peoples who became Native Americans were
certainly the first, tens of thousands of years ago. Also Norse
expeditions to North America, starting with Bjarni Herjolfsson in 986,
are well established historically. Many other pre-Columbian
discoveries are not well established: claims have been made for St.
Brendan, Basque fishermen, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and even
Carthaginians. Some of these claims may be true; most are probably
not.
In spite of this, Columbus's discovery (or re-discovery, if you prefer) is
rightly regarded as the most historically important, and will continue to
be. That is because, unlike the others, Columbus inaugurated
permanent large-scale two-way commerce between the Old World and
the New. Previous discoveries were so little known that even the best
educated Europeans were unaware of the existence of America prior to
Columbus. The "Admiral of the Ocean Sea," unlike any of his
predecessors, changed the world.
Reasons for European Exploration
$ Greed $
Glory was the
desire of wealth. It
was more like a
personal fame
Columbus had the same desires
as many explorers both before
and after him. He yearned for
gold, wanted land, and wanted
power. The whole purpose for his
first voyage to what he thought
was India, but turned out to be
Central America (he was lost),
was to gain land for Spain. It took
quite a bit of sweet talking from
Columbus to get the money and
ships needed for this voyage from
Spain’s Queen Isabella.
Isabella had the same motive.
She wanted land for Spain, and
that is the only reason that she
ever gave him the money and
ships to make his voyage.
Political/Economic
Competition
Win as many
converts
possible to
Christianity
The Impact on Native Americans
Since there is no evidence that any previous trans-Atlantic
voyages transported slaves for sale, Columbus was the first
European to transport slaves eastward across the Atlantic, and so
is seen by some as the founder of the Atlantic slave trade.
Columbus took 1600 Arawak as slaves. 550 slaves were shipped
back to Spain; 200 died en route, probably of disease, & of the
remainder half were ill when they arrived. After legal
proceedings, the survivors were released and ordered to be
shipped back home. Some of the 1600 were kept as slaves for
Columbus's men, Columbus recorded using slaves for sex in his
journal.
Rounding up the slaves resulted in the first major battle between
the Spanish and the Indians in the new world.
To further Columbus’s goal of finding gold, he imposed
a system on the natives in Cicao on Haiti, whereby all
those above fourteen years of age had to find a certain
quota of gold, which would be signified by a token
placed around their necks. Those who failed to reach
their quota would have their hands chopped off. Despite
such extreme measures, Columbus did not manage to
obtain much gold. One of the primary reasons for this
was the fact that natives became infected with various
diseases carried by the Europeans.
Diseases such as: Smallpox, Influenza, Typhus,
Measles, Malaria, Diphtheria & Whooping Cough.
Influenza or "flu" is an
infection of the respiratory
tract that can affect millions of
people every year. It is highly
contagious and occurs mainly
in the late fall, winter, or early
spring. Influenza is spread
from person-to-person
through mists or sprays of
infectious respiratory
secretions caused by
coughing and sneezing.
Influenza affects all age
groups and causes moderate
to severe illness, loss of
school and work, and
complications such as
pneumonia, hospitalization,
and death.
What is typhus fever?
Typhus fever, also called typhus, is a disease that
occurs throughout the world in areas where people
and rats occupy the same buildings and where large
numbers of mice live. It is also called murine typhus
fever and is rare in the U.S.
Who gets typhus?
Anyone can get typhus but it occurs more often in
people whose occupations or living conditions bring
them into contact with rats.
How is this disease spread?
It is not directly spread from person to person.
People get typhus after infective rat fleas
contaminate fresh skin wounds or the flea bite site.
What are the symptoms of typhus?
Symptoms include fever, headache, chills, and
general pains that are followed by a rash. The rash
spreads to the whole body except for the face, palms,
and soles of the feet. This form of typhus fever is
very similar to the typhus that is spread by lice
(louse-borne typhus), but it is milder. A person
cannot get typhus fever more than once.
How soon after exposure do symptoms appear?
The symptoms may appear from 1 to 2 weeks after
the flea bite, usually within 12 days.
What is measles?
Measles (also known as
the "10 day" measles)
is an acute, vaccinepreventable, highly
contagious viral
disease that is capable
of causing epidemics.
Although susceptible
persons of all ages can
acquire measles, it is
especially severe for
infants under one year
of age and young
children.
Measles is spread by direct contact with
nasal or throat secretions of an infected
person and less commonly by airborne
transmission. A person is contagious
from just before the first symptoms
appear to four days after the onset of
the rash.
Diphtheria - Diphtheria is an
acute bacterial disease that
usually affects the tonsils,
throat, nose or skin.
Diphtheria is transmitted to
others through close contact
with discharge from an infected
person's nose, throat, skin, eyes
and lesions.
The Taino, or “Noble Ones” had not developed any natural immunity to
these diseases and as a result, they died by the thousands. According to
one estimate, nearly one-third of Hispaniola’s 300,000 inhabitants died
during Columbus’s time there (in August of 1498). By 1508, fewer than
60,000 were alive on the island and 60 years later only two villages
remained.
Resistance to Spain’s attempt at domination began shortly after the
Spanish arrived. In Nov. 1493, the inhabitants defended themselves
by firing poison arrows.
Hernan Cortez
Hernan Cortez was born in 1485 in Spain. Like Columbus, he set
out to find gold and gain wealth. In 1519, Cortez landed on the
shores of modern day Mexico. Like Columbus, Cortez desired gold
for himself & Spain, along with land to claim in the name of Spain.
He also wanted power & fame. With 600 men known as
Conquistadors (conquerors), 17 horses & 10 cannons he made his
way to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (teh*NAWCH* tee TLAHN),
because he learned of the vast wealth that the Aztecs possessed.
Aztec City of Tenochtitlan
The Aztec emperor Montezuma II believed that Cortez was the Sun
God & he agreed to give up gold and whatever else.
After he had the faith of the people, Cortez attacked and killed many
of the Aztec people & he forced them to mine for more gold and
silver. Cortez had admitted that he & his comrades, “Had a disease
of the heart that only gold can cure.”
Cortez was notorious for torturing the natives to force them to work and
mine for gold and silver.
In the spring of 1520,
the Aztecs rebel and
drive out the Spanish.
The Spanish then
retreat to Tlaxcala.
Aztecs sacrifice
captured Spaniards
and horses.
In Tlaxcala, Cortez regroups and attacks again a year later using 86
Cavalrymen, 510 Spanish Soldiers, 7 Cannons, 100,000 Allied
Indians & 13 ships.
THE FINAL
CONQUEST AND
SIEGE OF
TENOCHTITLAN
MAY-AUGUST 1521
Ultimately, With the
aid of Indian allies
Cortez recaptures the
city in 1521, by both
waterways and on
land. He overthrows
the Aztec empire & He
establishes New Spain
whose capital he calls
Mexico City.
Cortez is able to conquer because of several factors:
•Superior weaponry – cannons & rifles vs. arrows
•Various native groups – Cortez received the help of a native woman
translator named Malinche. Cortez finds out that many of the other
native tribes in the area hated the Aztecs due to their harsh practices such
as human sacrifices. So through Malinche, Cortez is able to convince the
other natives to attack the Aztecs.
•Disease – Like the situation with Columbus, the Aztecs did not have any
immunities to the same diseases that wiped out the Taino.
Francisco Pizarro
Pizarro heard stories about massive amounts of gold located along the West coast
of South America. Pizarro got permission from the King to conquer and colonize
the Incan Empire located in modern day Peru.
He then gathered an army of about 200 soldiers, and made his way inland
towards the city of Cajamarca in 1532. The Incan emperor, Atahualpa, allowed
the Spaniards to proceed inland because he believed they were gods, or “children
of the sun.” At Cajamarca, Pizarro hosted a huge feast, and invited Atahualpa
and the Inca nobles. Once everyone had gathered, the armed Spanish soldiers
rushed the unarmed Incan people, and were able to scare and confuse the natives
by using canons and horses.
They killed many of the leaders but took Atahualpa alive. Atahualpa agreed to
give Pizarro a room full of gold and two rooms full of silver in exchange for his
freedom. This treasure would be worth about $100 million in today’s economy.
However, Pizarro then went back on his word, and had Atahualpa executed on
August 29, 1533. Pizarro then went on to capture the Incan capital of Cuzco .
After wiping out the Incan leaders, the native people offered little resistance, and
the Spaniards were able to put them into forced labor.
After conquering South America, The Spanish lived among the native
people, imposing their own culture upon them. The settlers, primarily
men, began mixing with the native women, which created mestizo –
mixed Spanish & Native American population.
The Spanish forced the natives to work and mine the land for it’s
resources called Encomienda.
Interesting Note: The Spanish received their authority to force the
natives to work (Encomienda) from authorities in Spain.
As a result of the encomienda, Spain becomes the wealthiest, most
powerful nation in Europe in the 1500’s.
As a result of the brutal Spanish labor system & disease, many of the
natives died, causing the Spanish to abolish the system. But to meet their
labor needs, the Spanish began to use enslaved Africans.
The Spanish Priests also accompanied the conquistadores when they
came to South America. But unlike the conquistadores who were in
search of wealth, the priests were concerned with converting the natives
into Christianity. The Spanish monarchy assigned mostly priests to
explore & colonize North America because little gold was found amidst
the dry deserts of the Southwest. The priests opened missions in the
Southwest and in Western parts of North America. Modern day states,
like Texas, New Mexico and California.
The Impact The Exploration Had On Africans
At the end of the 14th century Europeans started to take people from Africa
against their will. Initially they were mainly used as servants for the rich. The
Europeans justified the taking of slaves by arguing that they were providing an
opportunity for Africans to become Christians. By the 17th century the removal
of slaves from Africa became a holy cause that had the full support of the
Christian Church.
After the arrival of the Europeans there was a sharp decline in the local
population of most of the islands in the Caribbean Sea. This created a problem
for the Europeans as they needed labor to exploit the natural resources of
these islands. Eventually the Europeans came up with a solution: the
importation of slaves from Africa. By 1540, an estimated 10,000 slaves a year
were being brought from Africa to replace the diminishing local populations.
British merchants became involved in the trade and eventually dominated the
market. They built coastal forts in Africa where they kept the captured Africans
until the arrival of the slave-ships. The merchants obtained the slaves from
African chiefs by giving them goods from Europe. At first, these slaves were
often the captured soldiers from tribal wars. However, the demand for slaves
became so great that raiding parties were organized to obtain young Africans.
The first Europeans involved in the African slave trading were the
Portuguese & Dutch. Later, the Spanish & English became involved in
trading Africans because the natives who they enslaved in the Americas,
began dying by the millions due to disease.
To resupply their labor force, they looked to Africa.
Europeans saw several advantages in using Africans:
•Africans had already been exposed to European diseases & had
somewhat built up an immunity to these diseases.
•Africans had experience in farming, thus they could be taught large
scale plantation work.
•Africans had little knowledge of the land, so they were less likely to try
to escape (or so they thought).
The Middle Passage
The "Middle Passage" was the journey of slave trading ships from the
west coast of Africa, where the slaves were obtained, across the Atlantic,
where they were sold or, in some cases, traded for goods such as
molasses, which was used in the making of rum. However, this voyage
has come to be remembered for much more than simply the transport and
sale of slaves. The Middle Passage was the longest, hardest, most
dangerous, and also most horrific part of the journey of the slave ships.
With extremely tightly packed loads of human cargo that smelled horrific
and carried both infectious disease and death, the ships would travel east
to west across the Atlantic on a miserable voyage lasting at least five
weeks, and sometimes as long as three months. Although incredibly
profitable for both its participants and their investing backers, the terrible
Middle Passage has come to represent the ultimate in human misery and
suffering.
Once aboard the ships the blacks would be packed below deck. Captains
of slave ships were known as either "loose packers" or "tight packers",
depending upon how many slaves they crammed into the space they had.
Most ships, especially those of the later 18th century, were "tight
packers", carrying a huge quantity of slaves who were often forced to lie
in spaces smaller than that of a grave, or in some cases stacked spoonfashion on top of one another. Regardless, life for a slave in the "tween
decks", as they were called, was extremely uncomfortable. In addition to
extreme overcrowding, there was also inadequate ventilation, not to
mention little or no sanitation. Although some captains would have their
crew periodically clean the "tween decks" with hot vinegar, most chose
rather to leave them alone, resulting in their atrociously unclean
condition. In addition to disease and suffocation below deck, it would not
be uncommon to find the body of a slave completely covered by lice.
This photograph is
dated to the late 1860s,
one of the earliest
photographs in The
Moving Here Catalogue.
It shows the upper deck
of a sailing ship
crowded with people
including children.
This photograph
appears to show either
the slave ship itself or
perhaps the British ship
to which the rescued
slaves have been taken.
Before the slave trade ended in the 1800’s, it had
drained Africa of at least 15 million people.
Slaves were in the fields from sunrise to sunset and at harvest time they did an
eighteen hour day. Women worked the same hours as the men and pregnant
women were expected to continue until their child was born.
European immigrants had gone to America to own their own land and were
reluctant to work for others. Convicts were sent over from Britain but there had
not been enough to satisfy the tremendous demand for labor. Planters therefore
began to purchase slaves. At first these came from the West Indies but by the
late 18th century they came directly from Africa and busy slave-markets were
established in Philadelphia, Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans.
The death-rate amongst slaves was high. To replace their losses, plantation
owners encouraged the slaves to have children. Child-bearing started around
the age of thirteen, and by twenty the women slaves would be expected to have
four or five children. To encourage child-bearing some population owners
promised women slaves their freedom after they had produced fifteen children.
Olaudah Equiano was born in Essaka, an Igbo village in
the kingdom of Benin, in 1745. His father was one of the
province's elders who decided disputes. When he was
about eleven, Equiano was kidnapped and after six
months of captivity he was brought to the coast where
he encountered white men for the first time.
Sold to slave-traders, Equiano was transported to
Barbados. After a two-week stay in the West Indies
Equiano was sent to the English colony of Virginia. He
was later purchased by Captain Henry Pascal, a British
naval officer.
Olaudah Equiano
Equiano saved whatever money he could, and in 1766
purchased his freedom. He then worked closely with
Granvile Sharpe and Thomas Clarkson in the Society for
the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Equiano spoke at a
large number of public meetings where he described the
cruelty of the slave trade.
I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a
greeting in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that, with
the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick
and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste
anything. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon,
to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing
to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across, I think,
the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely.
The white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner;
for I had never seen among my people such instances of brutal cruelty.
The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the
number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room
to turn himself, almost suffocated us.
The air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome
smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died.
The wretched situation was again aggravated by the chains, now
unsupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children
often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the
groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost
inconceivable.
Triangle Trade System
Tobacco, cotton, sugar
& molasses is traded for
guns & ammo.
Slaves were traded for
raw materials: things
such as tobacco, cotton,
sugar & molasses
Lasted for 300 years
Tribute –
Reward System
Manufactured
goods such as
guns & ammo
were traded for
slaves.
The Impact on Europeans
$ Greed $
Political &
Economic
Competition
Glory
On May 4, 1493 Pope Alexander VI took action to clear
up any confusion that may have arisen over territorial
claims. He issued a decree which established an imaginary
line running north and south through the mid-Atlantic,
100 leagues (480 km) from the Cape Verde islands. Spain
would have possession of any unclaimed territories to the
west of the line and Portugal would have possession of any
unclaimed territory to the east of the line.
After further exploration, the Portuguese grew
dissatisfied with the agreement when they realized how
much more land Spain had been given. In June of 1494
the line was re-negotiated and the agreement was
officially ratified during a meeting in the Spanish town of
Tordesillas. The Treaty of Tordesillas re-established the
line 370 leagues (1,770 km) west of the Cape Verde
Islands.
The largest voluntary migration in world history
New World Crops
maize (corn), white potatoes,
sweet potatoes, peanuts,
tomatoes,
squash (incl. pumpkin),
pineapples,
papaya, avocados, tobacco, &
cacao beans (for chocolate)
Old World Crops
rice, wheat, barley, oats, rye,
turnips,
onions, cabbage, lettuce, peaches,
pears, sugar
Diseases
New World
domesticated
animals
dogs
llamas
guinea pigs
fowl (a few species)
Old World
domesticated
animals
dogs, horses, donkeys,
pigs, cattle, goats, sheep
barnyard fowl
The Columbian Exchange:
The exchange of crops, animals & disease
between Europe, Asia, Africa & the Americas
Permanently changed the world.
Crops such as corn & potatoes became an
important & steady part of diets
throughout the world. These foods helped
people live longer & healthier, thus they
helped boost the worlds population